Mindfulness for Teachers & Students
When people say to me, “I’m so glad you tell stories Michael, it’s a dying art.” I think to myself…
“Storytellling will never die, it’s part of being human. But the art of listening, now that is the important and precious skill that we all need to be reminded of. At the core of all learning is listening.”
– Michael Katz, Storyteller
In 2004, after 20 years of telling stories, and teaching the art of storytelling, I become aware that at the core of it all is the art of listening. I began to see that students on the whole were having a harder and harder time concentrating, and that teachers were having increased challenges in keeping students focused. I wanted to learn how to give students and teachers the skills to practice to become better listeners and thus better learners.
One of the groundbreaking innovations in education is the teaching of mIndfulness to students and teachers. People ask me, “What do you mean by mindfulness?” Other words for mindfulness might be: concentration, focus, thoughtfulness, attention, compassion, and awareness. When I heard about the work of Mindful Schools based in Oakland, and that they were teaching and placing mindfulness teachers in schools, I jumped at the opportunity. Since then, I’ve taught teachers and students at a variety of schools in California.
In these programs I’ve taught, I’ve seen students learn how to stop throughout the day, refocus, concentrate, and become aware of their actions. Teachers are blown away by how these skills have helped students with class attention, conflict resolution, test taking anxiety, self compassion, empathy and so much more.
The programs I offer can be configured into any amount of days. Each class starts with the ringing of a “mindfulness” bell. This simple bell becomes a tool for refocusing, that the teacher can use throughout the day and for the entire year. I visit each classroom for 15-20 minutes each visit, with a wide array of fun exercises focusing on: sound, thoughts, eating, feelings with the intent of giving the students skills to use in and out of the classroom to stay present. The teachers are each given a bell, and trained on how to use these skills throughout the year. 15 minutes may sound short, but as an educator, I can say that what happens in those 15 minutes is profound and extremely effective.